With apologies

[Andrew Jameson]

Dear Colleagues,
Britain's experience of IRA terrorism (many horrific large-scale
city bombings and 30 years of insurgency) leads me to the
following conclusions:

The American people has been misled about the extent to
which America is hated in the Arab world, and, specifically, the
American government has misled its people about the real
casualties sustained in Iraq, Sudan and Afghanistan
and elsewhere due to American (sometimes also British)
bomb and rocket attacks .

America believed it was invulnerable and could afford to
continue such interventionist policies whenever it wished.

The present dreadful, unbelievable attack is a desperate
political symbolic act. It is not a military attack. If there
were an Islamic military force waiting to attack, the West
would have shouted to high heaven about it.

The only possible solution is a political one. It involves
re-orientating American foreign policy towards the Arab and
Islamic nations. It will take a generation to succeed.

If we reply with massive military force, we are reducing
ourselves to the level of the present insane tit-for-tat
Palestinian-Israeli conflict, where each act drives the conflict
further into mutual degradation.

If we believe that a massive retaliation will solve the problem,
we are grievously wrong. There are many worse things that
terrorists could do in America than crash planes into
buildings.

(You'll only hear from me once about this.)

Andrew Jameson
Member, Lancaster Monthly Meeting
Society of Friends (Quakers)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                http://members.home.net/lists/seelangs/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------